~ Words to Remember

Cancer Follows Industrialization

“The time trends and spatial features of cancer’s occurrence around the globe clearly belie the notion that cancer is a random misfortune. Cancer associates with westernization.Whereas forty years ago, cancer was mostly a disease of wealthy nations, half of all cancers now occur in developing nations, particularly those rapidly industrializing. Some of the ballooning global burden of cancer is attributable to increasing longevity and an aging population, but age-adjusted incidence rates are also rising in many regions. In India, cancer incidence rose by 7 percent between 1983 and 1997. It rose by 12 percent in Latin America.”